Ballard Flames are champions
By Dean Wong
With the 2007 Seattle Citywide Soccer Tournament Championship on the line and the game tied, the Ballard Flames U-12 girls team defeated the Queen Anne Hawks 2-1 in a penalty-kick shootout.
Each team lined up at mid-field for five shots each at the goal to determine the outcome. "It's a stressful deal in a good way. I told the kids this is the hardest thing on the soccer field.
Besides the noise of the political races for president, governor, Congress and the Legislature, we hope some things happen during 2008 in the more limited world inhabited by you and by us.
We have an important job these days, more important than it once was, because now the two big dailies have pulled back covering what our readers consider local news because of staffing freezes and a belief, it seems, that lighter news is what sells. The exception comes only when some dreadful tragedy like the killing of the six people on the Eastside on Christmas eve.
Sea Breeze is friendly place
Sea Breeze
2409 N.W. Market St.
706-3170
Monday through Saturday, 5 p.m. until closing.
By Patricia Devine and Jim Anderson
At Large in Ballard by Peggy Sturdivant
Do You Know Angelo?
I used to think I knew Ballard, but after nearly a year of writing this column, I am increasingly aware of what I don't know. Little secrets exist throughout the smaller neighborhoods within the whole. Community message boards, talking sculptures, which employees have recorded CD's and have club dates.... The more I look, the more I find. But how did I not know about the Two Angelos?
One Saturday morning on Market Street I exchanged greetings with a former co-worker and admired her new hair style.
Walking into The Wax Bar, Ballard's newest concept in skincare salons, is like entering a chic alternate universe. A young man stands behind a custom-made, padded white desk in the front of a mod white foyer, and looks up from a shiny white iMac computer. Instead of the standard "how are you?" his first question is "would you like something to drink?"
The Wax Bar, which specializes in facials and waxing, is Karen Jahn's new baby, born Sept. 21.
Jahn's skincare and waxing "bar" is the first salon in the Seattle area to acquire a liquor license.
Keystone Club members Christina Steinauer, Parker Davis and Krista
Nelson sort through clothing they are collecting for New Horizons, an organization that helps homeless youth. The Keystone Club is part of the Ballard Boys and Girls Club.
Aspiring young actors and actresses, ages four to 18, can exercise their acting and teamwork skills and build confidence at Taproot Theatre Acting Studio's Midwinter Break Day Camps February 18-22. At the camps, children and teenagers will learn new acting techniques, explore a variety of genres and styles, and make new friends. Camps culminate with a performance for parents at the end of the week.
An old Scandinavian tradition is making the birds happy in Ballard in the form of the juleneks made by Kristine Leander.
There are 46 of them in the Ballard business district. Overall, Leander has produced 275 this year, with homeowners in the area buying them to place on their trees.
Many Scandinavian seniors can remember the juleneks being hung in Norway, Denmark and Sweden and it brings back memories. "It's very exciting. I see the older people getting excited," said Leander.
The juleneks are also called sheaves.
How about a tax cut?
By Paul Guppy
"On the surface it sounds good." That was one lawmaker's first reaction to a law signed by Governor Gregoire that lets some taxpayers defer up to half of their yearly property tax bill. This lawmaker voted for the bill, but her initial skepticism was well placed.
For many of us, New Year's Day is full of promise. We promise to diet, exercise, pay off credit cards, and to advance professionally in the year ahead. Some promises are kept, at least for a month or two. Then it's back to being ourselves and, as in the case of spending, we charge ahead.
Our year-end thoughts also transport us into the past as we become contemplative, and review both our accomplishments and shortfalls, and those of others whose lives we have touched.
